Congratulations are in order for MECA’s Academic Decathlon (AcaDec) team who earned awards from this year’s competition hosted by the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE).
Students in Academic Decathlon, an elective class where students learn about different areas of study in order to compete with other schools, are expected to learn as much as they can about all of the subjects so that they can complete activities involving those topics.
“There’s an essay, an interview, a speech, and then students take seven objective tests in social science, economics, science, literature, art, music, and math,” said Gabriel Nichols, the AcaDec coach for the past two years.
Some of the competition is done online, some are completed in class, but the interview and speech were given at San Gabriel High School on January 23rd.
In order to prepare for the contests, students work on their subjects pertaining to one bigger theme with this year’s theme being climate change. Nichols explained that the theme helps students to zero in on information from the subject.
“It’s history, but it’s history on how humans have affected the climate,” he said. “And it’s science, but it’s the science of climate. And the literature was all climate-based literature.”
After they complete the interviews and speeches, they get to play a game called Superquiz with the other schools in attendance.
“It’s like a Jeopardy-style game,” Nichols explained, “and our team came in second place so we got a trophy and silver medals for that.”
This past year, Nichols has seen growth in himself as a coach, improving his team, especially in their essay writing. Junior Lauryn Marin even took home a bronze medal for her essay.
“We went over the proper essay format and our essay scores got better that way,” Nichols shared.
Even though they have a lot of fun, AcaDec is not a class to be taken lightly.
“First semester, it’s a lot of work, because we have all of the readings that we have to do,” Sophomore Academic Decathlon student Katelyn Chung shared.
While the tests and workload can be difficult, it can also be really enjoyable.
“I honestly really liked the reading that they gave us, because I feel like it was really easy to understand the material,” agreed Karren Zhuang, fellow sophomore. “I kind of memorized the characters and the story and the major events that happened.”
Furthermore, Chung explained that this class has helped her grow a lot in her skills, specifically public speaking.
“Working on the speeches and practicing interviews and impromptus has really helped me to understand how to speak better to an audience.”
Chung and Zhuang’s teammate, senior Damian Mejia, specifically enjoyed learning through the lens of climate change.
“Something that was interesting was science, like learning about all the environmental impacts that we have,” shared Mejia. “I guess learning about that specific subject kind of opens your view of the world.”
The knowledge that AcaDec students acquired about various topics allowed them to add another trophy to their growing stash.
“This is our third year in a row for winning a school award,” Nichols proudly said.
To celebrate the year they have had so far, AcaDec celebrated with a banquet, hosted by LACOE, on the Queen Mary in Long Beach on Thursday February 13th.
With the approaching end of the 2024-2025 school year, Chung urges students to join Academic Decathlon next year.
“It’s a very good opportunity, so if you’re a sophomore or junior or even freshman, be interested in it for next year, because I think half of our team is graduating, so we should get more members.”
Students compete in three levels called divisions: Honors or Division 1 has students with GPAs ranging from 3.80 to 4.00, Scholastic or Division 2 has students with GPAs ranging from 3.20 to 3.79, and Varsity or Division 3 has the lowest GPAs from 0.00–3.19. MECA’s team placed third overall in Division 3.
Great job to everyone in Academic Decathlon, and good luck with the rest of the school year!
